Crashed cars are seen on Trakia highway near Zinitsa, south-east Bulgaria, on November 10, 2026. (Photo by Ivan YANEV / BGNES NEWS AGENCY / AFP / AFP)
Sofia, Bulgaria: Eleven people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday in pileups on both sides of a highway in southeastern Bulgaria, whose roads rank as the most dangerous in the EU, authorities said.
Eleven people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday in pileups on both sides of a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria, whose roads rank as the most dangerous in the EU.
The pileups snaring dozens of vehicles took place in thick fog near Yambol in the southeast of the Balkan nation, on the highway linking the capital Sofia to the city of Burgas on the Black Sea.
An estimated 50 cars and trucks were involved in the accident, the regional governor of Yambol, Georgi Chalakov, told the BTA state news agency, as government officials rushed to the scene.
Images showed overturned and smashed cars and trucks, mangled together, as well as burnt-out vehicles.
"The toll at this point is 11 dead and 48 injured," Prime Minister Rumen Radev told reporters.
Radev was meeting EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who is on a visit to Bulgaria, but the prime minister cancelled his official events scheduled for later Tuesday.
The injured are being transported to hospitals in nearby cities, while the government has dispatched two aircraft equipped with stretchers and medical teams.
Bulgaria saw 71 road fatalities per million inhabitants in 2025, the highest rate in the European Union, according to European Commission figures.
Victims blame the Balkan nation's high number of traffic deaths on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and an inefficient justice system.
